Late last year I started increasing my awareness of 'real' food and nutrition. I have always been into nutrition, and we ate what I thought was a pretty healthy diet. You know, lean meat & meat alternatives, low-fat dairy & dairy-free, lots of legumes and vegetables, organic where possible, no artifical sweeteners, wholegrains and high fibre. Then something happened. I think I was getting into lacto-fermentation, and started finding websites like The Nourishing Gourmet, Nourished Kitchen, Cultured Food Life, and some others listed here. I had started using coconut oil as a supplement and in cooking/ baking, because I had read about the benefits. I also read a comment on an Apron Stringz blog post about Nourishing Traditions, which had stuck in my head, so I decided to look into it more. I bought & read Real Food by Nina Planck, and that is how The Year of Eating Nutritiously began. What you really wanna know is, how is it going, right? (Well maybe you don't, but this post is going to help me feel like I am getting somewhere!)
In the last 7 months, these are the changes we've made (in no particular order) and how well we've done with them.
- Increase consumption of coconut oil & coconut cream - I had been using some coconut oil for a while before really starting these changes, because I had read it helps reduce yeast in your system. Of course, now I am a total convert for using it for everything that ails ya! I recently read Virgin Coconut Oil: Nature's Miracle Medicine from the library. I eat several teaspoonfuls a day, plus use it in baked goods, frying, and have started using it on my skin directly too. I use coconut cream in some Asian dishes, smoothies and home made ice cream & frozen yoghurt (I finally bought an ice cream maker a couple of months ago when it was on sale). I feel that my rosacea has improved since having regular coconut oil, but that could be from other changes too, of course (like ditching coffee last year). You need to look for unrefined, virgin coconut oil, and even though it comes from overseas, I feel it is worth it, and try to buy 'fair trade' coconut oil too. More about the benefits of coconut oil here and here.
- Continue eating organic, 'pasture-raised' butter made from pasture-raised/ grass-fed cows milk - In January (or maybe December) I discovered I could buy 180 Acres butter from a nearby supermarket. Even though I had always preferred the taste and idea of butter, we had been using dairy-free margarine for a while, as we went dairy free for my son (we have found he can tolerate goats milk, goats cheese, buffalo mozzarella, Jalna yoghurt, milk kefir, and butter). I bake with it, put it on toast and sandwiches, and add it to some cooking. More information about the benefits of butter made from the milk of cows who eat grass here, here and here. I am happy to say we have not eaten any margarine for at least 6 months!
- Learn to love/ accept/ not feel guilty eating animal fats (& include more offal) - Besides my love affair with coconut oil, and reacquantaince with butter, I've been rendezvousing with animal fats too. I've always liked the taste, but have had it drummed into me for years that saturated fats are bad. They are not. However, not all animal fats are the same, because industrially farmed animal fat, and processed/ damaged fats, don't cut it. Buy organic, pasture-raised meat, and avoid overly processed or poorly treated fats (some brands of tallow or lard frying oil have trans-fats). When I used to eat meat fat (say, occasionally on a lamb chop, or chicken skin) I'd feel guilty about it. Not anymore! We don't buy 'lean' meat anymore, in fact, more and more of our meat meals are cooking on the bone, and with the skin/ fat, for flavour and nutrition. I am taking on the 'nose to tail' approach more too. We have certainly stopped eating tofu, and admitted that legumes really weren't agreeing with us. There is often some fat scraped off the cooled organic stock (see below) that I put into my strainer pot/ jug, and then use in cooking/ roasting. I have been meaning to render my own lard from organic, pastured pork fat too, but haven't had the chance yet. More about the benefits of beef tallow, and lard, and other good fats. While I am talking animals, I might also say I've added pate into my eating habits too, having it on toast for breakfast, crackers for lunch, and even putting it into soups.
- Use homemade stock/ bone broth - I always knew making stock wasn't that hard (I've done it in the past) but just always used powdered stock for convenience, and easy storage. I didn't think I had time to make it, but also, I had no where to store it if I did (not a lot of room in our freezer). We invested in a Pressure Canner this year, and I am so glad we did. I now make a massive batch of organic beef stock, or organic chicken stock, then 'bottle' it in my Fowlers Vacola jars in our All-American pressure canner and keep them in the pantry/ stockpile. I use organic bones, vege's, garlic & onion, salt, and a dash of vinegar (to draw out the minerals). I use the stock in risotto, soups, casseroles, and gravy. I really believe that homemade stocks have so much goodness in them, plus it uses up more of the animal, and saves money too. More about the health benefits of homemade stock or bone broth, here and here. I used up the last of the Massell powdered stock I had, and haven't looked back!
- Increase consumption of lacto-fermented foods - I continue making milk kefir, water kefir, and other lacto-fermented condiments/ vege's. For a while I gave the milk kefir a break, but recently I noticed we started having GI issues again, like constipation in my 4 year old (also due to us giving him cows milk cheese again, I think), and upset tummy's doing the rounds. So we've re-started brewing milk kefir again, making milk kefir 'yoghurt', which goes into smoothies, frozen yoghurt, and I eat it with honey too. I also started putting some apple water kefir (second fermented with apple juice) into the kids drinks too. I am the only one who eats the LF vege's or condiments, and whilst I liked the kimchi, the dilly carrots, the dilly cucumbers, it was the LF salsa that I loved (bring on tomato season!) More about why lacto-fermented foods are good for you here, with links in that post to experts who know more than me!
- Reduce gluten, processed and 'convenience' foods - Cook more from scratch, gluten-free and refined-sugar free. Sounds easy, doesn't it! Hmmm. So, I've been cooking gluten free for about 10 years now (since I met my husband, who has Coeliac's Disease) and I have also been gluten-free at times too, because a naturpath told me I had an intolerance to it (amongst other things). For the last few months I have been about 90% gluten free (I have the occasional bread item), and yes, you can buy a wide range of GF items these days, so many still have processed crap in them. Whilst I have been perfecting a couple of kid-friendly, no-sugar, gluten-free biscuit recipes, I've only made the gluten-free crackers a couple of times. I tried the Gluten-Free Crusty Boule recipe with some really good results, and some not so good ones too. I have found it easier & quicker to use the Laucke Gluten Free bread mix, but doing it in the oven (as our breadmaker seems to be on it's last legs). For the products that I have kept on buying (breakfast cereal, crackers, kids snacks) I have tried to buy ones with less sugar & unpronounceable ingredients in them. I haven't done too brilliantly in this section, that's for sure.
- Reduced intake of refined sugars - Oh, how I wish I could say we Quit Sugar. But we didn't... yet. I'd been reading about those who have, and about how bad refined sugars are, and what might be better alternatives for natural sweeteners. I've been using (local) honey in my tea for months now, and in baking, completely leaving out any other sweetner most of the time. I tried rapadura, panela and muscovado, but seen as these items come from overseas anyways, I find it easier to just not buy them, and use honey instead. We've treated ourselves to some organic maple syrup a few times, though, mostly to make ice cream/ frozen yoghurt. We never had soft drink/ lollies or shop bought baked goods often anyways, but the tricky thing I guess is those darn convenient packaged items, like kids plain biscuits, breakfast cereal, and those occasional (I swear) indulgences, like chocolate. We have reduced our sugar intake, there is still a long way to go here.
- Reduce fluoridated water & change to Toothsoap - we bought a water filter, which removes chlorine and contaminants, but unfortunately we didn't get the one that removes fluoride, so we use rainwater in it (to avoid fluoride from tap water). I am currently reading The Flouride Deception from the library at the moment. Read more about the issues on fluoride here, here and here. Whilst we still drink some tap water at times, I feel better knowing we've reduced it. In the same regard (though not a food, but something you inadvertently consume), we've also stopped commercial toothpaste. Something I had been wanting to do for a while, but as I had sensitive teeth (and my daughter had decay stains), I was hesitant to do so. I moved to a 'natural' sensitive toothpaste and a kids toothpaste too, but then on reading this, I felt that even the so-called 'natural' ones weren't that good. I did more research, like this, this and this article, and found recipes like this and this, to make your own. However, because I had little idea what it should taste like, and where to get the ingredients, I decided to purchase this one (from the US) and then when it runs out, make our own. I feel my teeth are actually whiter (I do an occasional bi carb brush and hydrogen peroxide rinse), and only the occasional senstive tooth issue (which I applied some clove oil to, and am happy to say that stuff works!) My daughters decay stains are not worse, and the dentist was happy with the state of her teeth. Next step, stop bathing in chlorinated water!
- Avoid soy - oh, crap. I grew edamame (soy beans) last season, then started reading more about how soy isn't that good for you (the phytic acid, the processing, the phytoestrogens). Read more here and here. OK, a plate of boiled and salted soy beans didn't kill me, but I hate to think what all that tofu we consumed in our 'eat less meat' days, was doing to our systems (and even worse, what a couple of years worth of soy milk did to our daughter). Another dilemma, so many gluten free products (including the GF pasta & bread mix we've been using) contain soy! Not all soy is bad, because fermented soy products are more easily to digest (apparently). I am at least increasing my awareness about it.
Man, after writing all that, I feel a friggin' legend. Unfortunately, I am not. There are still things to change, and improve upon. I do feel good about what we've done so far, but a couple of the things still to work on include:
- More raw dairy - we can access raw cows milk, and raw goats milk, but the health food store isn't that convenient to get to, especially twice a week for our dairy top up. We've had raw milk a couple of times now, to 'bathe in' of course!! I haven't read it all, but here is a series on the benefits of raw milk.
- Better cooking - I still want to try making my own GF pasta, and add sourdough/ soaking/ sprouting grains to the list too. To be honest, the whole grains/ phytic acid/ soak-sprout-or-not-thing makes me confused and like I want to stick my head in the sand. I guess it is really the last big challenge I need to work out and research more about, but as you can tell, I've been pretty busy with everything else.
Well, it looks like we have done a lot, but being passionate about it and wanting to improve my health and that of my family, all this new information and skills and time spent cooking has been easy enough to take on. It's been over 7 month time period too. What I have learnt is that I don't know much, and even when you learn something new, inevitably there is someone out there with the opposite view and research to prove it, not to mention controversy even within the 'traditional/ real foods' gang of experts themselves. Has our health dramatically improved in the last 7 months? Not dramatically, and my husband and I still have more to lose from the spare tyres around our waists, but in general, I feel we have more energy and better immunity. Guess we'll keep on going and see what the next 5 months brings!
Want to get your own start in Traditional or Real Foods? I recommend reading Real Food - What to eat and Why, by Nina Planck, and while you wait for it to come from the library or book store, check out these two articles, Ten Staples for the Traditional Foods Kitchen, and Getting Started with Real Food & Your Ingredients, by Nourished Kitchen. There are loads and loads of links on my Pinterest board, {Thrive} The Year of Eating Nutritiously too.
